The worst case scenario to our upcoming plan was brought to a close end as the figure, who would be revealed through Saitou's angry retort of his, stood still whilst observing the shock of us three.

"Sagasuga!!"

His face was full of rage and coiled within an unknown wrath. On the other hand, although I had no seen him before and wanted to feel relieved for finally coming across another human being in the sections, he was without a doubt Sagasuga.

Furthermore, his eyes are on me only.

"That's me!"

Jokingly, he pointed at himself which didn't have a positive result on Saitou. However, there was a bigger dillema at hand. Sagasuga asked for a rematch and if I recall correctly, Saitou mentioned that Ryousuke left him standing on a cliff, which means that...

By normal means, he should not be aware of the swap. Though, that's a fool's way of thinking! If Hajime already told him about the fact that I am currently not Ryousuke Kawahara, then...

What will he do?

"What are you doing here, Sagasuga?!"

For now I chose to observe as I slowly retreated into where Takeshi and Saitou are as Sagasuga and Saitou continued their dialogue. The differences in their attitudes could be described as if Sagasuga is a free-flowing air while Saitou is a flare ready to bombard anyone.

"I am here to establish balance, of course. Though, I'm here mainly to have a rematch with Kawahara, over here."

Despite talking to Saitou, he launched his right long index finger in my direction in a swift arm rupture of movements.

"Establish balance, my ass! You're working with Hyunda, aren't you?"

"Hyunda?"

He sounded genuinely surprised at least. It also didn't look overly sarcastic, or sarcastic at all, which left us all puzzled at first. Though, Saitou wasn't going to fall for that.

"It's useless to lie, we know everything. How you and Hyunda are making sure we succeed in every section by one of you doing everything for us!"

Although I had expected that to phase Sagasuga ever slightly, it didn't even begin to phase him, at all. Plus, he immediately corrected Saitou's misconception right away.

"That is not true. I haven't met Hyunda a single time while partaking the exam."

"Bullshit! Bullshit! If you really hadn't met him, then why would you even be here, Sagasuga?!"

Sagasuga placed his right hand fingers on his chin calmly and delivered a collected reply.

"I was here taking a leisure because I had already completed the other sections and I was looking for human life. I was successful in my endeavor."

Of course, Saitou wasn't going to swallow Sagasuga's words, even though they could very well be true, but as far as we are concerned, we are better off not believing them.

"Oh yeah? Congrats! But hey! You're still lying! The very fact that you said that you completed the other sections already means that you were the one who put this master card here at the beginning!"

Saitou's reasoning is on point and it's why I haven't believed in anything Sagasuga has said thus far. If he truly completed the other sections, then he was the one who put the master card here in the beginning and has been abiding to our success. Therefore, claiming that he is not the one responsible for our fabricated success holds little to no sense.

Nevertheless, Sagasuga offered another alternative.

"I am afraid to say that was not the case."

"How not?!"

"I simply completed each section and moved along. What you just suggested completely goes against what I just said, Rayazaki. Because, if I completed each section, why would I go back all the way into doing my work?"

"If you are here then you could have very well done it!"

As if to imply that he wasn't coming through as someone reasonable, Sagasuga sighed. Furthermore, he cooled his forehead with a soft massage done by his right hand's palm.

"Good grief, I am really not coming across as someone who is really looking for other friends despite the fact that I have been separated from Tatsu and Tsudo."

"...Where are they...?"

Finally speaking up, Takeshi unleashed his curiosity, but I kept quiet, since I am not sure if Sagasuga does not know about the swap. In any case, when the time comes, I will simply have to act as Ryousuke would.

But there is just a slight problem. It's been too many years and although he hasn't changed much, his attitude towards Sagasuga might not be the same as his attitude in general. Even though he took ahold of a lot of my personality's elements, he is still Ryousuke Kawahara and I am Izayoi Daku.

If Sagasuga already knew about the swap, then he would've mentioned it already... or not. If he's smart and he knows, then he will pretend like I am really Ryousuke.

There's just no telling, however. He holds advantage here, no matter how I look at it.

"I wouldn't know. Ever since I've reached the last section, I've been searching for them. I was hoping to find them here, but instead I encountered you three. Also, Rayazaki, you said something about Hyunda, but where is he?"

"......You really don't know...?"

Unable to distinguish whether Sagasuga has been lying or not, Saitou let out that small speech. If there is one thing about Sagasuga is that his expression never changes. Or at least, thus far. Poker face---such is the method to keep one's emotions in check. Should I claim to be good at reading one's mood, could I claim to be a good mood reader if a person represents a neutral mood? Surely, I could say that his mood is neutral yet what lies beneath?

"What?"

Extremely puzzled, Sagasuga questioned Saitou. Embarassed, Saitou apologized, but not completely.

"Sor--- Hell no! If what you've said is true, although I still don't believe you, what are you doing here?!"

Exhausted from having to go back to the initial point once again, Sagasuga threw his arms at bay before expressing minimal annoyance.

"As I've said already, I am here in search for human life. More specifically, the lives of the ones partaking this exam."

"That is the worst excuse ever!"

Sincerely, I was about to agree with Saitou, but what Sagasuga said afterwards, justified his "excuse" previously, a bit.

"It's not an excuse. We can't get a clear ending without having everyone present in the last intersection. Henceforth why I am going all the way back."

"What do you mean...?"

"Rayazaki, I mean what I just said. I was unsuccessful in speeding through the exam as I had planned. Up ahead in the last intersection, even with all the passwords correctly inserted, it won't matter."

"Again, what the hell are you talking about?"

Sagasuga wasn't being quite explicit with what he was implying, so Saitou had no other choice but to go for the option of peer pressure, to which Sagasuga responded to, reasonably.

"There is a door in the tenth section that is tightly locked and as far as I'm concerned, without it open, nothing will really happen. The door contains ten digital machines that serve the purpose of recognizing someone's hand-prints."

"...Come again...?"

Not Saitou, but Takeshi abruptly said that.

"In short, even though I placed my hand in the scanner, it only lightened one light in the door. Do you understand where I am getting at here?"

From Sagasuga's words, it appears that in the tenth section there will be a door leading to the conclusion of this exam. If we are ten as a whole, then it makes sense as to why there are ten digital machines with the ultimate purpose of recognizing our hand-prints. And by that logical foundation, Sagasuga backtracked thus far to collect the rest of us so we can get inside the tenth section and ultimately clear the path to victory.

But there's something that doesn't make sense here.

"We get it, Sagasuga."

I upheld Ryousuke's serious expression with his common mischevious grin adjoined to his lips and proceed to look similarly to him.

"At last! I was finding it strange, Kawahara. You're the talkative guy, but you went silent for so long... It's almost as if you are..."

He rubbed his chin and minimized the size of his eyes slightly before firing that verbal strike at me.

"A different person........ Just kidding."

Sweat droplets scourged down my throat's exterior and Saitou was already thinking the same as I---whether Sagasuga knows that I am Izayoi Daku or if he doesn't. Takeshi, however, didn't quite understand what was going on here and attempted to splurt something to which I had to interrupt as quickly as possible.

"But he---"

"Kuzan! Don't you dare disobey the orders of your Master!"

As we traded contact, I made sure that Takeshi would get where I was trying to go and thankfully, he clearly understood and apologized.

"O-Oh, you're right, Master! Forgive me!"

Upon seeing this, Sagasuga made a side commentary.

"That's the Kawahara I know alright. He's bossy, arrogant and even has Kuzan calling by "Master"."

"It's only right."

I don't seem to recall ever calling my subordinates in the past by "Master" which means this is something he developed on his own...

That aside, Sagasuga didn't waste time to rush me into explaining myself.

"You seemed to have been meaning to ask me something, Kawahara. Why not try?"

I gulped down and then asked.

"If you truly were not the one behind our manufactured success, then why didn't you take the components with you?"

This right here is the main reason as to why I still believe that Sagasuga is lying through his teeth. If he really scourged through the entirities of each section and completed them, then why not take the components with you? Unless you have an ulterior reason for not picking them up, this does not add up whatsoever.

The very fact that there is even a winning button goes to show that he is lying. Or so, I thought, but what he said was... not expected to say the least, for me.

"They are too unbalanced. Do you disagree?"

"What the fuck..."

Saitou was in awe with tremendous disbelief towards Sagasuga as Takeshi really pondered the meaning behind Sagasuga's words. Clearly, Saitou was not buying anything that came from Sagasuga, but, what Sagasuga just said isn't necessarily a lie.

Or even a lie at all.

"If you've really went all the way to the tenth section, there's no use in hiding it, but yes, they are unbalanced. Though their purpose is vague in some, there is for example this..."

Confidently, I took out the winning button detonator from my bag and highlighted it to Sagasuga and explained what it does.

"By pressing it, you win the exam. Arguably unbalanced."

Sagasuga nodded very happily as I presented my comprehension towards the lack of balance in such components.

"Marvelous! I am beyond glad you understand the lack of balance here. The power of balance is something that must be preserved. With that said, the components distort the balance of the exam. They have either complete negative impact or positive impact, but they are by no means necessary for the balance of the exam. That's why I rightfully excluded them. By the way..."

He emphasizes a lot on balance and though that could be used as a clever way of manipulating those around him, I found what he said afterwards to be highly puzzling.

"You have it with me, don't you? That component. Or rather, the one I previously wield."

"What? There's---"

Almost committing to the bait of speaking my true mind against Sagasuga, I stopped my tracks and realized that I was carrying an ax and that the ax could possibly be a component that Sagasuga and Ryousuke perhaps captured it together. If so, were I to deny that the ax is Sagasuga's component, I would be refusing my knowledge of our previous events which wouldn't make sense because otherwise I wouldn't be Ryousuke Kawahara.

"Oh yeah! The ax! How could I forget?!"

With brand enthusiasm, I spoke heights.

Only to be met with more doubt as Sagasuga said something entirely different.

"What ax? I am talking about the password decipherer! Remember how in the beginning of the exam we found it in the first cavern we went to? That's how I was able to even get past here!"

.......? What...?

Although this is something, if true, that Ryousuke should only know, why would he mention this? As I looked to my right and left and examined the look on Saitou and Takeshi's faces, I saw only doubt.

They were not aware of what Sagasuga was also talking about. Defensively, Saitou unleashed a verbal assault onto Sagasuga, accusing him of falsehood.

"Stop trying to confuse us. What exactly do you want from us, Sagasuga?"

"Confuse you? I am being misunderstood here, I swear. But alright."

He shrugged and let go of the argument. This really left me wondering if Ryousuke and Sagasuga really found a password cracking device in that first cavern he mentioned. If so, it would be possible to continuously go back and forth in-between the sections since Sagasuga would know all the passwords. That also explains why he is here right now since Ryousuke has the majority of the words that he acquired previously thus it wouldn't make any sense for Sagasuga to be here without them.

It makes sense yet... I can't help but feel like I'm being lied to.

"I would like your assistance. From all of you, of course. I don't think any of you really should refuse because in hindsight, we won't pass unless we all cooperate."

I argued with something that has been commonly presented to us.

"We can't cooperate if there aren't any members to cooperate with."

"I agree, Kawahara. However, it is for a fact that there are six others in this island. Aside from you three, if we count my existence, we are four. Previously, Tsudo and Tatsu were with us, so that makes six. You mentioned Hyunda, Rayazaki, did you not?"

Less aggressive now and ready to reason, Saitou complied.

"Yes. Kawahara found him in the sixth section. Isn't that right?"

"Really, Kawahara?"

To Sagasuga's question, I almost answered with the way I would've answered it, but I recalled from Hajime that Ryousuke calls him by another less formal name.

"That damn bastard was in the ruins, so yeah, make that seven, actually!"

"Any chances he might still be there?"

"None. He blasted the whole ruin by utilizing one of the components."

I took out the component that Hajime gave me back then and explained its utility.

"Apparently this can blast any section by itself through a simple click. After that, we got separated."

Disappointed, Sagasuga sighed.

"What a bummer. So, that leaves us three more, right? Kan, Akihiko and..."

Sagasuga could not finish his sentence as Takeshi happily interrupted him.

"Aniki!"

Takeshi's smile was brightly genuine and showed not a trace of falsehood. I remember how Takeshi mentioned him back in the Waterway. I have yet to see him, but if all goes according to theory, I will get a glance at every single one of them before I go away.

Because, according to Sagasuga, everyone is required here, so there is no loophole.

"Yes! With their presences we can go forward with the exam and win. A plausible scenario, right, Kawahara?"

Sagasuga lightly laughed and closed his eyes transiently. Everything thus far has been going smoothly, but what's bothering me is how Sagasuga managed to transform this entire scenario into his advantage. He knows he's factually correct and that such facts benefit us.

But, if you ask me, this has been going too smoothly, and Saitou already took notice of that.

"I know you're not talking to me, but I'll talk for him. We don't want nor need your help!"

"Yeah, Sagasuga! Go away, we can take care of ourselves!"

Both Saitou and Takeshi protested and as such, I joined in, by fearlessly glaring right into Sagasuga's soul, though his composure nevertheless remained untouchable.

"We are failing the exam, so you can fuck yourself, bitch."

We three confidently smirked back at him and bumped our fists up high.

I might've theorized other plans, but I don't intend to make fun of our early talk.

"I see."

Surprisingly, despite the fact that our cooperation is a key element to his success, Sagasuga did not fret and instead walked up to me, but not in a manner where I was forced to put up my guard.

Saitou looked absolutely ready to strike back and Takeshi was indecisive on what stance to take, when, at last, our heights mirrored and our glances crossed each other.

"Kawahara, throwing an exam like this?"

"What of it?"

"It's strange. Kawahara, you were very keen on passing this exam. I recall, numerous times where you prioritized goals above goals if it meant advancing in this exam yet now... You are telling me that you're just gonna call it quits?"

I adamantly refused to show any signs of nervousness and remained stoic while Sagasuga started to walk in a circle around the three of us, making observations as he peeked at me.

"Very strange indeed. What an unbalanced decision, Kawahara."

Surely, Saitou and Takeshi must be pondering in their minds whether Hajime has told Sagasuga about the swap, but there's no telling whether Sagasuga knows, so he can just continuously keep poking at me like this to confuse us.

"It's my decision. If you don't have anything else to say, then take your leave. We won't help you, Sagasuga."

My plan here is the simple following: For now, we allow Sagasuga to continue as he will make the others come to the tenth section so they put their hand-prints. Later, maybe after a full week, we show up in there and fake something like how we had a change of mind. There's a gut feeling deep inside me that tells me that allowing Sagasuga to take charge of this current event will only lead us to trouble. Hence, we will feign stubbornness while hiding our intentions.

"Allow me to understand this clearly... By claiming you three won't be of any help; is the equivalent of not partaking this exam any further, correct?"

"That is the case."

"Great, great."

"Kawahara..."

With a fairly loud footstep echoing through the room, Sagasuga stopped circling and faced me once again before addressing his intentions.

"Can you give me all of your components?"

"Wh---"

Though Saitou was about to explode, I firmly responded without a shred of hesitation behind my words, to Sagasuga.

"Absolutely not."

Sagasuga was not pleased by this, though his monochromatic expression remained.

"How come? Non-partakers of this exam have no right of possession to items that do not remotely belong to them."

"As far as I'm concerned, these components only belong to the ones who have found them."

"I beg to differ, Kawahara... Your party is being a massive prejudice by upholding this childish possessive attitude. While I may not be in danger in regards of the contents of the exam, I believe others could use the help of those components. By being unnecessary possessive, you are hindering the possibilities of success of those who are less than likely to succeed. Simply put, you three should not be rewarded through the possession of such powerful helpful items if you are not in a position of contending for the exam."

"Where are you getting at?!"

Saitou retorted Sagasuga whilst grabbing his collar, but Sagasuga remained unmoving.

"Must I explain everything in a simple way for you to understand? Fine. I am saying you three are being childish and you could stop being childish by giving me the components since you've essentially forfeited the exam on your own free will."

It's not like I will do it, but I might as well ask.

"Sagasuga, what do you exactly intend on doing with the components?"

He smiled a bit as he answered with something we had suggested not so long ago.

"As Rayazaki suggested, or at least implied, I can simply put them back in their place so everything's untouched. This way, any student that is partaking the exam, will find themselves challenged. Plus, are the components not of great help for them? Am I wrong?"

"They might not. I'm sorry, the answer is a no."

Once again, Sagasuga got rejected.

In insight of his expression, his eyes widened a bit, as if in shock, but his face remained the same. He, however, grabbed Saitou's right wrist and took it off his own collar. Saitou showed physical struggle in breaking out of the lock, but he wasn't able to do so as Sagasuga purposely let go of the lock.

Then, he sighed and talked back to me.

"Kawahara, you're being unreasonable. So far, I've offered you cooperation and have stated what we need to do in order to ace the exam. Yet despite that, you declined. Next, I launched the fact that you three are essentially wasting those components' potential by keeping them under your treacherous possession while proving to be a nuisance to those who could potentially use those components. It appears that I am being denied for apparently no reason."

Saitou retorted with our own assumption.

"It's not for no reason! You and Hyunda are working together and anything you do is to contribute to that plan! That's why we won't cooperate with you."

Sagasuga blinked thrice, as if dumbstruck.

"Are you three insane?"

"What was that?!"

From the left side, I took ahold of Saitou's shoulder and Takeshi did the same exact for the opposite side. He was ready to lash at Sagasuga, who questioned our sanity. In order to see through Sagasuga's question, I took charge of the dialogue.

"What did you mean just now, Sagasuga?"

"Maybe "insane" wasn't the right word?"

He mubled to himself just once before continuing, to our surprises.

"Oh, I understand now. It's probably delirium, isn't it?"

"Can you get to the point? You're getting offensive."

"Why yes, Kawahara. I am claiming you three are delirious individuals who refuse to face reality for what it is."

This sparked a sudden rage in us, but Sagasuga wasn't done yet with his speech, so he moved back a little and sat on the first degree of the mini-stairway that would lead to the uprising room.

There, he cleaned the small dust of his clothes, looked at the orange sun on his right side and calmly looked at the three of us from afar.

"Having been subjected to these new changes of environments most likely caused your brains to experience paranormal activity and thus, you've beginning to have questionable thoughts. Have you, for once, thought to yourselves whether these environments were all too good to be true? If any of this is real? Why you are experiencing this when these past months we have been in a school and suddenly we are in a deserted island with a variety of environments that change way too often? Where are the others? One might think these thoughts would be common, but in reality, they are caused by paranormal brain activity beyond your own control. In conclusion, the claim that I am working with Hyunda, is very much a result of paranormal brain activity."

"....What...?"

Takeshi began to take Sagasuga's opinion in. It appears that Takeshi might've experienced those thoughts that Sagasuga mentioned just now far too frequently. I will admit of having thought on them quite a bit, but I do not believe it reflects paranormal brain activity.

"I don't believe you. Anyone exposed to these environments would have such thoughts. It's only natural. Your point is quite flawed."

In return, Sagasuga raised his right index finger up a bit.

"Who said that was my point? The point that I am actually trying to make or rather--- emphasize--- is what one should naturally think given what the environment gives them to experience. Certainly, what I've said are thoughts that you should naturally experience. But, me, working with someone who I have not come across in this island, is not the product of what the environment has exposed to you. It's your own delirium. Did I make myself clear?"

Forced to acknowledged Sagasuga's point, even Saitou reflected on it for a bit.

In essence, Sagasuga suggested that suspecting him for working with Hajime holds no realistic nature because no environment holds any product of such nature for us to experience it; henceforth it's an unnatural thought. I will admit that he is right and that he has beaten us in that regard.

Nevertheless, if Hajime is truly competent, then this is all a facade and as such...

"You did. But I just have one question."

Sagasuga did not speak, but extended his right hand to symbolize that I could proceed.

"What if, despite all you said, we still maintained our stance?"

To the left side and then to the right. Subsequently, Sagasuga looked up to the sealing before humming.

"Uh..."

He looked lost in thought but it wasn't for long until he confronted my eye-glare.

"Why would you still do that? I've tried to reason with you creatures for quite a bit now. This debate is dragging on. Furthermore, you've essentially admitted that I have superior reason, so, knowing that, why would you still maintain your stance? I sincerely can't understand."

All in all, I don't believe that no matter what I say, Sagasuga will back down. It's ironic, because I was the one who claimed that we would save physical force as a last resort and would always reason first but now we are being unreasonable. However, we have to be unreasonable in order to not get caught in his flow.

Ultimately, I was ready to continue, but Saitou spoke the truth towards Sagasuga, who didn't take it very well.

"We just want to oppress you, dumbass! You obviously want something out of us, otherwise you wouldn't commit this much into this argument!"

Saitou spoke loudly but no one else talked for three seconds after which caused a big massive echo in the room. Sagasuga's eyes were crucified onto Saitou and only then, he muttered something, to not particularly any of us.

"Seriously? Alright."

His voice sounded defeated. But, maybe defeated wasn't quite the right word...

Sagasuga kept on cleaning the dust of his clothes, although I seriously wondered whether there was any dust in the first place and afterwards, he got up and walked past us. Nothing about his expression had changed and he looked extremely uncaring about the fact that we essentially didn't give in.

Which was odd and caused us to be stunned right there at the moment and only after three seconds, did one of us spoke, as Sagasuga was heading towards the Lighthouse's entrance.

"W-Wait!"

Reaching out his right hand to the air, in Sagasuga's direction, Saitou demanded Sagasuga to halt, but he didn't.

"This is weird, man! You come here and say all that but now you're just leaving?! That's so weird!"

However, upon hearing that, Sagasuga put a pause to his physical movement and without looking at us, he spoke softly.

"I can't reason with you three. You're all under the impression that I am conspiring against you, so as it stands, I hold no benefit in standing here."

......A sudden thought crossed my mind; perhaps feeling unconsciously guilty towards the possibility...

If Sagasuga was not lying all this time, then we have been incredibly rude towards him. Constantly doubting him and not even casting a single vote of belief. Normally, a person would be revolted about this should they had not been lying, but Sagasuga's expression remains the same and so, I can't draw anything out of him.

He continued to walk once again, six steps away from the entrance. Takeshi spoke to Sagasuga this time around.

"Why did you betray Master?"

Sagasuga stopped and replied rather simply.

"Why not ask him? He should know, right? There's no way that he doesn't, right?"

Both Saitou and Takeshi remained confused by Sagasuga's sudden movements, but I couldn't waste time and asked him a few questions.

"Sagasuga! What're you gonna do now?!"

He stopped yet again, three steps away from the entrance.

"Can't I have some privacy? I didn't exhibit any particular interest in your own movements, so how come you are doing that now?"

"I just would like to know. I thought you would argue more."

"Again, I can't reason with you three. I'm not a fitting element to balance this circumstance out."

That struck me with an undeniable confusion.

"Are you implying that there is a fitting element to balance this current circumstance?"

I couldn't see his face, but by the confident tone in his voice, it wouldn't be strange if he was smiling.

"Balance always has a way. If a reasonable element can't balance out an unreasonable element, then an unreasonable element will. Now, are you done with the questions?"

"...Just one last more..."

Most likely, he will seek cooperation out of the others, but there is something that doesn't fit here...

"Won't your plan to seek cooperation from the others be ruined if we don't cooperate? What good are the others if we ultimately don't do it?!"

According to Sagasuga, he already put his hand-prints in the scanner, which only leaves out nine others to do it and the door won't open unless nine others do the exact same. So, what sense does it make to abandon us here? He needs us, so why did he suddenly give up like that?

I can't understand this pattern.

"You bring a point. However, establishing balance comes first, the exam can come later."

Out of frustration, I let out a complaint.

"What balance?! Weren't you the one who wanted our cooperation in the first place? Why are you just giving up like that?"

"Hm, you're not... making a lot of sense. I sought your cooperation and that didn't work out and so, I am taking my leave. What's so unnatural about that?"

This time around, it was Saitou who took charge of the conversation.

"You're suspicious. I can't help but feel alarmed by every single one of your actions. You're plotting something, aren't you?"

"I am surrounded by delusional individuals who think I am some godlike creature sent from the hells below to inflict unspeakable damage to you."

"........"

Not even Saitou could ignore the fact that we were unfairly treating Sagasuga and so, Sagasuga advanced to the entrance as just as he was one step away from committing to the path surrounded by water on both its sides all the way to the elevator where we came from, he spoke to us one last time, turning himself around in order to make his point clearer and succinct.

"Well then... Kawahara. Rayazaki. Kuzan."

He looked at us deeply once he called out our individual names, one by one as we stood there unable to predict what he was about to say.

"Enjoy the exile."

With his arms extended to us, as if to greet us in a spectacular way, Sagasuga started to walk out of the Lighthouse and continued to walk towards the elevator entrance.

We simply watched him make his way while attempting to decipher the meaning behind his words.

Saitou concluded something midst this. He bumped my shoulder and Takeshi's.

"Give it a rest and don't think too much about it. He's just mad that we didn't go along with his plan. We are clearly the winners here!"

Takeshi then said his opinion about this whole thing.

"He's mysterious... It's like you can't read him, but I'm glad it ends this way. Now we don't have to worry about anything, right?!"

"Yeah! We are out of that bastard's grasp since we fully denied Sagasuga. It's gonna all work out!"

Saitou and Takeshi were essentially celebrating at this point, but I couldn't shake off this feeling of unease. Just what exactly did he mean by "exile"? As far as I'm concerned, if he wasn't the one who did all this thus far, then the sections up ahead are accessible and cleared out for us, so why would he say that?

Was it just a bluff? Something for me to overthink about?

Now that I think about it, his words always implied more than the usual, very much like Hajime's words.

However, the truth is, we can't get exiled or anything like that because we can do whatever we want right now. Whether we fail the exam or not, it's our choice.

Nonetheless, I would like for us to succeed, so I'll eventually go with that plan I had in mind earlier.

"Daku? What's wrong? Don't tell me you're overthinking... Have some confidence, dude!"

Saitou bumped the back of my shoulders twice and I was brought back to reality. I smiled and agreed with Saitou while simultaneously going out of the parameter all the way to the exterior of the entrance.

"You're right. I should. I tend to be paranoid at times, sorry."

The moment we stepped outside of the Lighthouse, a change in the environment was occurring, which shocked every single one of us. We couldn't help but look everywhere in the sky as we noticed that the dusky sun was falling out of sight.

"T-The sun! Where did it go?!"

"But that's strange, if it's gone, shouldn't it be night?! So why is the sky... so..."

Their complaints were reasonable. The sun was no longer in the end of the horizon which would mean that nightfall would be here, but the truth is that the sky kept getting bluer and bluer with a shady gradient of gray, as if to cloud the entire atmosphere. Regardless, none of these elements of change were what truly captured my attention. My eyesight was glued to the left side of the path that would lead towards the elevator. Not the side of the cataract, but the other one.

"The water is... being drained..."

A tremendous gap in height in-between the path and the water that was occupying was shown. Around 30 meters worth of depth was no longer being filled with crystal clear water as the water kept on being drained upwards towards what I had described earlier as a seemingly endless ocean. The frequency of this movement of nature was occurring so fast that which each blink, twenty meters worth of water were being rapidly consumed to feed something else that we were not yet aware of.

Takeshi was the first one to take a guess as to what the entirety of the ocean's water was sufficing. After he pointed towards it, he made a guess.

"That's a mountain, isn't it?"

In agreement, Saitou couldn't help but also envision a mountain up ahead. We are standing in almost the middle of the path, but what we are envisioning is so far away that is very hard to know what it exactly is.

One thing I know for sure is that previously, there was not a single mountain before all this. Furthermore, it's uncalaculable kilometers away from where we are, yet if one were to give a closer look, the altitude of its height is continuously increasing while absorbing all the water from this side of the ocean.

"The wind... is getting stronger..."

Behind me, gusts of wind were persisting their way through us all the way towards the mountain.

"But why is a mountain draining all the water, Daku?"

"Good question, Saitou. It doesn't make a lot of sense. I mean, why would a mounta----"

It was then that I realized and my eyes widened in surprise. Worriedly, I placed both my hands on Takeshi and Saitou's shoulders and spoke the truth that I had failed to perceive because I could have never imagined something like this happening in such a calm environment like this yet with this much water, it certainly is possible...!

"That's not a damn mountain...!!"

Despite being so many kilometers away from us, it will be upon us soon, if we don't make a move.

"Huh, what is it th----"

Saitou started to tremble as he focused all of his efforts into strengthening his own vision in order to truly capture what was heading towards us. Takeshi was no different as he could envision it too.

"We gotta run to the inside, now!"

Paranoid, Takeshi made that suggestion whilst the abrupt violent wind decreased the volume in our voices, but I had to make another choice which was the safest.

"No, we go to the elevator from where we came from! If that thing hits the Lighthouse, it's gone for sure!"

"I'll go check if the elevator is working or not! Make sure we have everything with us, Daku!"

"Got it!"

Running at an unbelievable speed, against the raging air tide, Saitou made his way towards the elevator, while I made sure everything was with us. All the components were present in my bag and Takeshi made sure to also check his own bag.

Takeshi then almost subconsciously looked towards the very phenomenon at least fifty to one-hundred kilometers ahead of us slowly forming itself in an unbelievable monstrous natural height.

"Don't look at it! Let's go to Saitou and get out of here!"

"Y-Yeah!!"

Saitou had dropped his bag halfway because it was burderning him with its brutal weight and it was then that I noticed that I was quite tired. Unnecessary weight upon my back was hindering my movements and I couldn't have that, so I had to make a judgment call for our own survival.

I stopped my tracks midway and faced Takeshi with my most serious look.

"Takeshi."

"W-What's wrong?! Why are we stopping?!"

I placed my hands on his shoulders and made my decision.

"Drop your bag to the other side of the ocean."

"W-What?! That's insane! We will lose all of our resour-"

It's not my policy to scream, but I needed Takeshi to understand the gravity of the current situation.

"That thing is gonna swallow us if we don't make our movements faster!"

Subsequently, I dropped my hands off Takeshi's shoulders and dropped the bag with all the components to the right side of the ocean, all the way to the cataract. It went down to the cataract so fast that I saw all of our efforts being jeopardized like that.

"Now! We don't have much time!"

Although he was indecisive at first, Takeshi dramatically threw his bag onto the ocean and said goodbye to his efforts as well.

"Goddamn it! Goddamn it! Goddamn it! Let's go!! We can't die right here!"

"Exactly! Onwards!"

With the time on the clock, we hurriedly rushed towards Saitou who was at the north end awaiting us, but the moment I caught sight of him, he was fuming as he pressed the elevator button on the exterior only to find a negative result.

He was mashing the button yet the door was not opening. Furthermore, out of rage, he had begun punching it with his right fist.

"What the hell?! This never happened before! In the other sections, by pressing the switch, the elevator would always go u---"

Takeshi then counter-argued ever slightly in the heat of the moment.

"We always had to clear the section first, didn't we?!"

But Saitou made the superior interjection.

"Then how the fuck was that bastard Sagasuga able to go through here?! This shit doesn't make any sense, FUCK!"

"..."

Speechless, Takeshi was forced to acknowledge Saitou's rushed conclusion on this. However, this was not the time for argument and so, I grabbed Saitou's right shoulder and told him what we had to do.

"We have to head inside the Lightouse, fast!"

He reacted quite violently, dismissing my right hand rashly.

"What difference does it make?! That tsunami's gonna swallow us! It's no use! We are screwed no matter what we do!"

"....."

Towards my left side, I gazed upon the gigantic tidal wave that was upholding an unnatural height, easily crossing the heights of 500 meters. Though extremely far away, it was no doubt coming at us with a rapid force. Under a grand total of five minutes or so, this land would soon be devastated by the absurd water impact, leaving no survivors.

If the elevator is useless, then our only hope lies within the Lighthouse.

"Saitou... There has to be something that will lead us to safety in the Lightouse and we don't have much time. As the leader, I order you alongside Takeshi to embark on this quest with me. Well, do you have anything to say?"

Saitou is a simple person at his core, that's why it's easy to get on his bad side. He wants confidence out of the other individual. Someone who can deliver answers instead of pondering over and over about what one should do or shouldn't do.

That's why it's not a surprise that he can just comply as easily as this.

"That's all you had to say! Get going, I'll take the food bag with me!"

"You musn't! You'll decrease your movements!"

Usually, I wouldn't make this argument, but it takes us around two to three minutes to get to the Lighthouse if we run at full speed, but with something weighing on us, that could easily become three additional minutes, which is far too crucial at the moment.

"Are you saying we advance without any food resources?!"

Takeshi retorted back to Saitou with something factual.

"What good is it to keep food resources if we don't make it out alive?! We already threw our bags into the ocean! Hurry up, Rayazaki!"

In disbelief for a second, Saitou looked at me dumbstruck. He couldn't believe that I had given up all the components just like that, but the truth was that neither Takeshi nor I were carrying anything.

Through my stoic expression, Saitou came to the quick realization that I was not playing around and that I was taking this situation with the most utmost serious degree.

Without showing any signs of protesting, Saitou distorted his facial expression one last time before throwing the bag with all the food onto the ocean tide.

We looked at it with pain and then I made my shot call.

"LET'S GO! WE DON'T HAVE TIME!"

We did not dare to look at our right as we already knew that if we starred one single time into that upcoming tsunami, we would be terrified beyond any possible repair. In addition to that, our breaths were completely ragged and wasted. Should any of them be under heavy physical pain, I vowed to carry them, but thankfully, they were not.

Midway, I spoke about what we had to do once we got inside the Lighthouse.

"Going up is not an option! The tsunami will wreck the upper part of the lighthouse! We need to find a way to the underground!"

"Is there even an underground?!"

"I don't know, Saitou! We didn't explore the entirety at all but that's an order!"

"Roger!" x2.

I am not going to trust in something unknown like the possible metallic resistance of the Lightouse which could imply that it stands a chance of surviving the impact from the upcoming tsunami. Unless we find a way of a possible underground, we are screwed. I am well aware that there are no references to a potential underground, but, if this is not an event of nature and if this tsunami is manufactured, then there should be a countermeasure.

Turning a blind-eye on this factor could be our biggest downfall.

Roughly a single minute left and we scourged the parameter of the Lighthouse while only marching forward towards the area where we hadn't gone into. There, we found the Mastercard which was still lying around. I took ahold of that and directed our current plan of action as it stood crystal clear ahead of us.

"Ahead of us! There's a lift!"

Just ahead of the room where we stood not too long ago with Sagasuga, the upcoming section was a circular section surrounding a single lift that had a gigantic eye in the middle of its lift. The eye looked extremely alive and it was then that I recalled that throughout all the intersections, I always found the element of the eye present through figures yet never cared enough to absorb much into my own brain.

Actually, now that I look around... That eye is everywhe---

"Daku! What the hell are you waiting for?! Any minute now!"

"R-Right!"

On our left side, right before the lift which was sheltered by a magnetic force field around it, a computer password entry lied within. Although there was the usual password entry, Takeshi noticed another option within the screen. It was read as "Emergency Evacuation Resort".

"That's gotta be it! Press it!"

From the outside, the sound of the water approaching dulled our ears. We could no longer hear each other and there was only one thing left to do. Even though I was not sure if this would lead us to a safe place, I had to bet our safety onto this one specific shot.

By pressing the E.E.R (Emergency Evacuation Resort) option, the lift was no longer shielded by its immunity and thus, we rapidly walked it.

"It's coming down!!"

We felt ourselves briefly flying from the initial ground of the lift which was heading down full speed ahead without any stops, similar to the one where Ryousuke exposed Takeshi and Saitou to mortal danger, but this one looked to be heading towards the absolute abysmal dark pits of hell as nothing but everlasting obscure black inked void followed our visions.

Raging water from within the preface was escalating furiously to us who were already several meters into the underground as it remained clear that the section above had been utterly anhiliated to oblivion by the unstoppable tsunami.

Without knowing where this lift would take us, we became once again, prisoners of the unknown.